240: Happiness Researcher Tal Ben-Shahar | The First Step to Happiness

Tal Ben-Shahar is an academic, author, speaker, teacher and co-founder of the Happiness Studies Academy. His classes on Positive Psychology and Leadership were among the largest courses in Harvard’s history, and he teaches, speaks, and consults around the world, to the general public, governments, Fortune 500 companies, and educational institutions. Tal’s personal mission statement is “to make the world a better place through wholebeing education” and his internationally best-selling books have been translated into more than 25 languages. Tal has been featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, NBC, FOX, CNN, and 60 Minutes among others. Tal earned both his BA and PHD from Harvard.

In this episode we discuss the following:

• Tal flips a common assumption on it’s head: happiness doesn’t start with feeling good; it starts with giving ourselves permission to feel bad.
• Painful emotions aren’t a bug in the system. They’re proof that we’re alive. The mistake we make is treating emotions as moral verdicts rather than facts of nature, and then trying to suppress what we feel. The key is to accept what we’re feeling and then chose to act in line with our values.
• The real work isn’t learning these ideas. It’s applying them, and for that reason Tal wears a bracelet to help him bridge the knowing / doing gap.
• In summary, to be happy, remember to let yourself feel bad. And then ACT.